Darkness
by Laura Butler
Summary: After the darkness, one can find hope... or more despair. The story starts just after the end of the book / movie.


**The story starts just after the end of the book / movie****.**

After the darkness

Even in the darkness of her room, she knew that he would haunt her forever. She wasn't ready to give up on him yet but sometimes she wondered if she wasn't holding on just because it was part of her nature. In those long and dark hours before the dawn, laying alone in the darkness of her room, she wasn't so sure if it was love living in her heart or just some fondness and a lot of resentment.

It was one on those sleepless nights, when she tried to conjure his image and she found herself unable to do so.

"Something must be wrong with me" she thought "I can't remember the way he used to smile at me… I must be tired, I haven't sleep well in ages that all. I'm just tired… tomorrow I will remember everything. Yes, I will think about it tomorrow and I will remember everything."

But the following day she couldn't remember his smile or his `cat-at-a- mouse-hole look`. She tried to remember but she couldn't, she even spent the night awake trying to find in her memory the exact image but it was no use. She blamed her tiredness but she knew that it was something else.

"I'm sure that tomorrow everything will be fine again." She said to an empty room. "Yeah, tomorrow everything will be like before, I'm just tired that's why I can't remember."

But every day that passed, she found that she could not remember something about him. First it was little details about him, a smile, a look, or the way he talked to her in certain occasions. Then those little details became bigger and bigger. And she felt that her memories were like tiny little butterflies trying to escape from her, and every time she was able to catch one hundreds of others flew away… away from her reach, away from her life. Those little and fragile butterflies running away from her, taking every memory of him, disappearing into the air to never come back again. No matter how desperately she tried to catch them, she never could get them. Before she could realize, she had only one memory left and she clung to it, holding it close to her heart afraid of losing it forever. But in a moment of distraction she let loose her hold and the memory simply fly away… away from her, away from her life, away forever.

And the desperation engulfed her. Sitting alone in a dark room, she thought in many ways to get those memories back but nothing worked. And she cried, she cried long and hard for hours but when her cry subsided, she realized that she was not crying for him… she cried for her memories and the feelings behind them and not for the man who had caused those feelings. She felt strange and she did not know why. The days passed unstoppable and she kept tried to stop the strange feeling inside her chest, until she could not leave it for tomorrow. She needed to know what this feeling was.

For first time in her life, sitting alone in a dark room after days of sleepless nights, she took her time to analyze her feelings, she searched deep in her heart and instead of love she found a big void. Like a plant her love had grown big and wild, filling all her heart and leaving no room for nothing more. Even after he left her love had grown bigger and bigger, threatening to blow her heart in a million pieces. When he left her love had become an unrequited love, a painful love but she was not ready to let him go, so she clung to it. However, like a plant, her love had grown until certain point and then without sustenance it had died little by little. Now she was empty, her heart was a simple a void a terribly dark emptiness.

She knew that she must feel hurt or afraid. And she felt like that at the beginning, but after a while, something in her heart began to stir. First it was imperceptible like a little spark but it grow bigger and bigger, until it was hard to ignore. It was hope, a growing hope. Hope in the future, in a future when she could find someone new to love and be loved. This idea made her shiver.

With a smile in her lips, she walked to a window. Opening the drapes, she let the light enter in the dark room lighting it. In the same way that hope was lighting her heart. For first time in so many days she was hoping for a better day, a better life and a brand new love to live.

The end?

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**Author's note:**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gone with the Wind or any of its characters. (I wish I could own them but I don't)**

**Hello everyone!**

**First of all, ****I must thank to Smitty who corrected my grammar mistakes. **

**This is my first GWTW fan fiction.**** This is a one-shot so do not expect a second chapter… well maybe you can expect it because if I get some inspiration I may add a second part even if I'm not planning to do so. Who knows?**

**I hope that you have ****enjoyed it. Feel free to leave a review criticizing my typos, grammar and way of writing. I appreciate any review or comment about it. Feedback helps me to improve. (Especially because I'm not a native speaker and some structures that I can consider grammatically correct for a native speaker sounds awkward)**


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